For a change

Summary: After seventeen years of waiting for a confession, Orihime got tired and left her best friend to get married with a stranger whom she just met for 3 weeks. Would she find her happiness or something else?

Genre: Mystery, horror (originally intended for Halloween). Thrilling story with hints of romance.

Disclaimer: The characters belong to Kubo. I do not own the plot. This is a story I read when I was a little, and the title and the story was in Vietnamese. I tried to find the name of the story in English and its original version but failed. All I knew was that this story was written by Agatha Christie. So is anyone knows this story and its title please let me know so I can put up a proper disclaimer. Thanks.

(11/12/12)

Orihime smiled as her husband threaded his fingers into her hair and gave her a throughout kiss before taking his leave. Waving her hand as he turned his head again to smile at her before closing the gate, Orihime felt happy enough. Her life was peaceful and pleasant enough.

Happiness sometimes was such a simple thing like this when she said goodbye to her husband before he went to work; sometimes it was the joy when he ate her meal, sometimes it was the coziness when they were cuddling and watching TV together.

Happiness to Orihime Aizen was to have a family, to have someone to take care for, to love and to be loved, something that over the thirty three years of her life she had lacked.

Orihime strolled down to her blooming garden. Involuntarily, her legs led her to a small brush of strawberry. It was not supposed to be in this garden, it was off, out of place, yet she didn't have the heart to plunge it out.

It was the small brush of strawberry that she intended to give to Kurosaki Ichigo as a birthday present two months nine days twelve hours and seven minutes ago but she never had a chance to.

Kurosaki Ichigo was her best friend and coworker for the past seventeen years. Orihime shook her head lightly. He was more than just a best friend and coworker. He was the great love of her life since high school.

Orihime knelt down and brushed the strawberries tenderly with her fingers.

She didn't know how to describe the relationship between her and Ichigo. At first it was just a high school crush which nurtured into an unrequited love since she never had the nerve to confess. Then, when she graduated from high school, she told herself to forget about him and moved on with her life. She went to study in a medical school in Tokyo, deciding to put an end to her one sided love. Fate somehow had other plans for her. Much to her surprise, Kurosaki Ichigo went to study in the same school. Though she had a crush for him, they rarely talked and knew about each other in high school. It was Ichigo who talked and made friend to her first. He found it a great relief to find someone he knew in a sea of strangers the first day of school. As for Orihime, it was the first time she had a decent conversation with her crush, and she realized it was not as scary as she had always thought, talking to someone she liked.

For the next five years after that, they had been best friends. Ichigo had always been there to protect and take care for her. They were inseparable. It was one of the happiest time of her life, for she had discovered the true meaning of friendship. Her feelings toward Ichigo had been intensified but still deeply buried. When she graduated from university, she thought she might never meet him again for he had been offered a scholarship to continue his research in America while she decided to work for a local hospital in her hometown, Karakura.

But much to her astonishment, the first day at work she met him again. It turned out that he turned the offer down and decided to work in the local hospital with the reason that he wanted to be close to his family. Not until years later that she found out the true reason why he had passed such a rare opportunity. It was possible that her feelings were reciprocated or at least that what she thought, for during the last ten years he had rejected so many girls who had much better appearance and quality than her and decided to stick with her through and through. He could have had a family and a lot of kids by now but he rather spent his time with her than to spare a day with another girl. And through those ten years, they have come to understand each others like no one before.

So... though none of them said anything about their true feelings, it was well understood, and the only reason that they hadn't married yet was because Ichigo had to work hard to support his family and spend his twin sisters to the university. Orihime had waited patiently for him, for she knew there would come a day when they would be together, forever.

It was all in the past now.

Ignoring the twist in her chest, Orihime stood up and headed toward another part of the garden.

An event had happened that changed her life and her love for Ichigo dramatically. Almost three months ago, her aunt died and without any children, her fortune went all to Orihime. Overnight, she had become ridiculously rich. Orihime thought that now the financial problems were solved, they just needed to get married.

A tear innocently dropped on her cheek, and she quickly wiped it away.

Ichigo had too much pride and he refused to get any help from Orihime. Instead, he kept the distance and became cold to her. He even applied to another job at another hospital and kept avoiding her. He didn't want others to think that he went for her fortunes, so now the chances that he would ever confess to her reduced to zero.

Heartbroken, Orihime decided to give up on him, this time for real. She was thirty three now, and she wanted to have a family for her own, she could not wait for him forever, hopelessly like this. It was torturing, and she didn't even know for sure if he had any feelings for her or it was all of her imagination.

Soon later she met her husband, Aizen Sousuke, in a party. He had pursued her ferociously, claiming his love for her the way no one had ever done it before. She simply didn't have the heart to turn him down. To be honest, she had been pursued many times before, but... Ichigo had always been there to chase them off, and she had been in love too deeply with Ichigo to ever consider any of her suitors.

Aizen was so different with other men she had met. He was devilishly handsome, utterly

charming, unbelievably intelligent and incredibly persistent in achieving his goal. Without Ichigo by her side, she found no strength to resist Aizen. After losing the first kiss that she had saved for Ichigo for seventeen years to Aizen, Orihime was completely vulnerable in his arms.

Three insanely romantic weeks and they got married.

What Orihime didn't expect was Ichigo's attitude after he got the news. The night before her wedding, he stomped into her apartment, full of rage.

"You cannot marry someone whom you just met for three weeks." Ichigo said, looking at her accusingly.

Anger flooded her body and she said before she could think about it, "So do you think that knowing someone for seventeen years will help?"

His face turned pale and he grabbed her wrist, "but you know nothing about him. Do you two even understand each other?"

She shook his hands off, "no, I don't need seventeen years to understand someone only to stand at the same point when I was sixteen."

Ichigo's voice became soft and desperate, "he could be dangerous. He could target your fortune only. He might harm you for..."

Orihime had never felt so angry at Ichigo before, "That's enough. I won't allow you to insult my husband. Not everyone is affected by my fortune like you. He's a wealthy and respectable man, and he loves me for who I am regardless of my fortune. "

"I never set an eye on your fortune."

Ignoring the hurt in his voice, Orihime said cruelly, trying to hold her tears back, "maybe it's the problem. Please leave." She turned her back away, "please leave, I have nothing more to say to you."

Orihime shook her head. Why was she thinking about Ichigo now? She had promised herself to forget about him and begin a life anew. Was it the dream that made her remember the past?

Recently, she had a weird dream - a terrible nightmare. It happened for three nights in a row now and it troubled her a lot. In her dream, she opened the door to her bedroom and found her husband dead with Ichigo stood next to the bed. It was obvious that Ichigo had killed Aizen, but the problem was that in the dream she had run into Ichigo's arms, full of joy, like she was truly happy that her husband had died.

Orihime took a sharp breath. It was just a dream, she reminded herself.

She had a good life now, and she was so happy with her husband. They even brought a manor with the most magnificent garden Orihime had ever seen. She fell in love almost instantly with the house the moment her husband took her here. The manor itself was fairly small but modernly furnished, and the garden... the garden as paradize in disguise. There were so many flowers and trees that Orihime could not remember them all. It was so beautiful and refreshing that it attracted a lot of birds and butterflies. Orihime felt like she was in another world when she entered the garden.

Without much hesitation, Orihime agreed to buy the manor and move here to live with Aizen, quitting her job and leaving Karakura.

Since most of Aizen's wealth were tied in reality, he could only manage to get 10 million yen in cash out of 30 million yens the worth of the house, so Orihime had happily offered to pay for the rest.

"Good morning, Orihime-sama"

Startling, Orihime turned her head to meet Kon, the gardener. "Good morning Kon-san. What are you doing here?"

Kon was a young man in his twenties, funny, passionate but somewhat perverted and childish. He was the only one Aizen hired to work in the manor. Since Orihime had insisted to take care of the house herself, there was no maids, but the garden was too big, they had to hire a part time gardener to do the trimming and cleaning every Friday.

"Oh, I'm sorry Orihime-sama, I forgot to tell you that I'll be busy on Friday, so I hope you don't mind if I work today instead."

"Of course not, I'm grateful that you've been taking care of this garden so well all by yourself."

"Thank you, Orihime-sama." Kon said with a blush on his face, "I'm kind of glad that I work today instead since I could say goodbye to you before you're going back to Karakura Town."

"Back to Karakura Town?" Orihime said with great surprise. She never wanted to go back to the city that was full of pain and agony, ever again.

"Yes, your husband said that you two will go back to Karakura by Friday and might never come back."

"That was weird. My husband didn't mention anything about going back to Karakura. Maybe you misheard him."

"Um, I'm pretty sure that was what he said, and it's not just me. He said that to everyone that he met in the village. By the way, I heard that you were ripped off by the old owner of this house. I heard that you had to pay him 20 million yens. That greedy bastard!"

"Who told you that it was 20 million yen? We bought it for 30 million."

Kon shook his head, "As far as I know, 20 million is the best that he can get. Did you give him the money yourself?"

"No, my husband dealt with him the whole time." Orihime's voiced trailed off. It was not the time to doubt her husband. There must be a misunderstanding somewhere. She made a mental note to ask her husband about it later. Orihime quickly picked up her voice, "by the way, Kon, thank you very much for being here today. I'll go and make you something to eat."

"You're so kind, Orihime-sama. Thank you very much."

On the way back to the manor, Orihime saw a small notebook on top of a brush. Curious, Orihime picked it up and flipped through the pages. It was a very detailed notebook writing what to do throughout the days. Orihime smiled. It must belong to her husband. He was a perfectionist who loved organization. He always planned ahead of time and had to do things at the precise moment that he had set. It wouldn't harm to look over the notebook later to see if he hid any secrets. Orihime thought with a smile.

After giving Kon his sandwich and a glass of orange, Orihime lay on her sofa and began to read her husband's notebook. Much to her surprise the first page was on the day they first met.

Saturday, April 23, 7:30 pm, have a dance with Inoue Orihime at the Ishida's manor.

If she didn't know any better she would thought that it was a diary, not a to-do list.

The notebook was extremely detail and exact to a minute. Everyday he would wake up at five, went for a jog, spent half an hour to listen to the news through radio and another half an hour to read a book, had a light breakfast, and then went to work.

Orihime found herself chuckling as she read something like 'marry Orihime at 9:30 am, May 15," or something like "kiss Orihime at 7:15, before going to work."

So to make sure that this was the to-do-list, not a diary, Orihime flipped through the last page, which was today. It was indeed a planner, for it said he would have a meeting at 9:00 am, then have lunch at 12:00, come back home at 4:00, have dinner with her at 6:00 pm...

Orihime stared at the page. It was weird that the notebook ended at '9:00 pm'. Orihime flipped back to previous pages. There he planned his day until 12:00 pm or at least 11:pm. Weirder, there was a period right after '9:00 pm' like he wanted to end his notebook here.

What did he plan to do at 9:00? Why didn't he write anything at 9:00 and after that? He was a very careful person; there was no way he forgot to write it. It must be done for a purpose.

While she was deep in thought, the phone rang, and the person she expected the least was on the other side of the phone.

"Inoue?"

There was a deep silence and both sides were afraid to break it.

Trying to collect her thoughts and emotion, Orihime said coldly, "Aizen Orihime's listening."

Hurt evident in his voice as Ichigo said softly, "It's me, Kurosaki..."

"What do you want, Kurosaki-kun?"

"You're so cold to me, Inoue. I just want to talk to you." His voice turned soft. "I missed you."

If he knew the effect of the three simple words did to her. It turned her peaceful world upside down. He just needed to say the word and she would give up everything, even the recent happiness...

No. She shook her head furiously. She had everything she had ever wanted. She had a house. She had a family. She had a man who loved her the way no one had ever before. She had the promise of having children...

What she didn't need now was false hope. How long would she have to wait if she were to cling on this light hope? Ten more years? Twenty? Thirty? Would she still be alive until the date came?

Not hearing Orihime's answer, Ichigo said softly, "I hope we're still best friend."

Best friend. Orihime thought bitterly; so at the end that was all she was to him.

"What do you want, Kurosaki-kun?", her voice was dry and icy. She tried her hardest to hold back a tear.

"Um, actually, I'm around Hueco Mundo, visiting an old friend, and I thought why not give you a visit too and see how's your life."

"I'm doing really great, can't be better, really. You don't have to worry about me." Trying to ignore the throb in her chest as his protective voice warmed her colding heart, Orihime said firmly. The last thing she wanted to do was to meet him again. His presence alone had the power to slice through her toughest defense, to mold her world and destroy everything she had worked hard for the last month.

"Inoue...", his voice turned sincere, "please...I just want to meet you, even just for a moment, to see that you're happy, and healthy, and safe."

"I'm not a child anymore, Kurosaki-kun. I can take care of myself."

"I'm sorry." There was a weakness in his voice that she had never felt before. "You must be getting tired of me. That's why you left, isn't it?"

"No. I can't never get tired of you, Kurosaki-kun" Orihime answered as quickly as the guilt began to flood into her body. He was just dead worried about her, and here she was acting all selfish and cold, "I'm sorry. I... I miss you too."

Even just through the phone, she could almost feel the smile on his face and she found herself smiling too, genuinely, out of happiness.

"Inoue, can I come for dinner tonight?"

Tonight. Orihime's mind immediately went back to her husband's notebook. What did he plan at 9:00? Maybe something special for her. Another kind of guilt intruded her; this time it was because of her husband. No matter how she lied to herself, there was a part of her still had feeling for Ichigo, maybe even much deeper than she had ever felt for Aizen. But she was a married woman now, that feeling was forbidden. She should remain faithful, body and soul.

"I don't think it's a good idea. We have plan..."

After a brief pause, Ichigo continued, more desperately than before, "How's about tomorrow's night?"

"I...I-I'll think about it. I'll talk to you later after discussing with my husband. Bye, Kurosaki-kun." Orihime said hastily, quickly hanging the phone up. Her hands were still shaking while putting the phone down. Her heart was pounding fiercely against her chest.

She paced up and down the room. Part of her wanted to meet him, desperately. The more logical part of her was strongly against it.

He was just an old friend. Orihime reasoned. She should tell her husband about it and ask if he wanted to have a dinner with Ichigo. Yes, that was what she should do. She should act as if she didn't have any feelings for Ichigo. In fact, she didn't. She didn't love him any more. He was a chapter of her past. She loved Aizen.

Just the thought of meeting him again, gazing at his warm brown eyes, hearing his deep voice, smelling his manly scent, feeling the way he looked at her so tenderly and full of passion... made her heart leapt up and down. She wanted to laugh at herself. Of course she loved Ichigo. There was only one man who could make her feel this way for the whole thirty three years she had lived.

Orihime stopped her pacing. She decided. No matter how strongly she wanted to meet Ichigo, she would not call him again. She would not tell Aizen about him either. There was a part of her heart that she wanted to keep for herself. Yes, this was the best way, she would not nurture her feelings towards Ichigo, neither should she deny it. It would... fade with time whether she wanted it or not...

Orihime dropped herself on the sofa again, exhausted, confused, and frustrated. Her fingers brushed against the notebook. She took it and looked at it again.

She wondered if Aizen had an affair somewhere... if he had another woman... Maybe that what he planned for the night. He didn't write in the notebook because he was afraid she might read it.

Orihime looked through the notebook again to see if he had had any dates with another woman, like a lunch or a dinner somewhere, but much to her surprise, she was the only woman in his notebook. If Orihime didn't know any better, she would think that this notebook was about her.

Orihime laughed softly. She was over imagined again.

Well, anyway, she would know what he planned for tonight, soon, very soon.

XxXxXxXxXx

Lazily running his hands in her hair, Aizen kissed Orihime carefully, every strokes and touches was precise and planned, exactly the way she would like it, making her body respond helplessly against his body.

"It feels like days since I last see you, Orihime." Aizen breathed against her ears and kissed her again, tasting every last bit of the dinner in her mouth. Orihime found with amusement that his flattery never failed to conquer her heart. Though her logical mind told her it was unwise to fall for sweet words, she knew that she loved to hear them, words that brought her reassurance and belief in the worth of herself.

She found herself yet again weak and vulnerable in his arms. Her body was his to take and control.

Aizen licked her ears seductively and smirked as she whimpered and curled her fists to stop herself from emitting any more sounds. "Orihime, I have a great plan for us today."

There it came. What they would do at 9:00. To be honest, Orihime couldn't wait for it.

"I will bring you to my darkroom. I want to show you some of my latest photographs."

That sounded interesting enough though she couldn't help but feel a little bit disappointed. She imagined it was something greater and more romantic. Or maybe his plan with another woman was cancelled and he ended up with a boring plan with his wife. Orihime wanted to shook her head. Why would she think that he had an affair? Was it because her own fluctuation with Ichigo still haunted her and made her conclude that her own husband had a secret lover? That was silly. Just because she had feeling with another man didn't mean that her husband was the same. Still, she couldn't get it off her mind.

"What troubled you, Orihime?"

His ability to read her mind was indeed scary, and Orihime hated to lie, so she answered as honestly as she could, "well, I just wonder if you ever... you know... have another woman...?"

Aizen laughed and looked at her teasingly, "Oh, my dear Orihime, I could never imagine you are a jealous type, but I guess it happens with every wife. It was in your woman nature to doubt and torment your husband with jealousy."

"No, it's not like that." Orihime blushed and quickly defended herself, "it was because you're so...perfect, it was natural to feel a little insecure with you being my husband."

Aizen shifted closer to her and cupped her face, "Orihime, it's true that I have had many women in my life before, but there was only one person that captured my heart."

Orihime felt her heart drop unwillingly, "so who's that person?"

"The one that has auburn hair," his nose touched her lightly, "and the most beautiful pair of gray eyes in the world."

She was lost, completely, in his kiss. All of her insecurities flight away. He might be the biggest woman player in the world, but oddly, she didn't mind if she was deceived by him. She was like the hungry bee fell desperately for the sweetness of the intoxicating honey, knowing the dangerous traps all around it.

As he weaved his arms around her waist, in her fuzzy mind she said something that seemed to come out of nowhere.

"Oh, this morning I just met Kon-san. It's funny because he said that you told him we'd go back to Karakura."

For a moment, the world stood still like the way her husband froze in rage. She found her body shiver, from what she did not know; probably from the way his hands turned cold against the skin of her bare arms. Not just his hands, but his eyes... All the warmth and gentleness in those chocolate orbs disappeared and were replaced by the iciness that was both deadly and dangerous which sent chills into her spine. She stared at his eyes. She never noticed how depth and dark they really were. They were unreadable, distant, heartless even, like the way the executor looked at his victim.

It must be her imagination, for immediately, he smiled at her, warmly and reasurantly, "It must be a misunderstanding, my dear," his fingers rubbed the back of her palms, sending tingles of pleasures all around her body like usual, "for I cannot be more pleased with our present life, and I know...," there was a pause, and Orihime saw an odd wickedness in his eyes that made her wonder if he knew about her past, and... her feelings towards Ichigo, "I know how much that town, Karakura has pained you." He brought her fingers to his lips, "there's no way, I'll make you leave this heaven happiness to go back to that hell of pain."

"It must be a misunderstanding." Orihime laughed awkwardly, "Kon-san might have been misled somewhere. He even insisted that this house must be sold for less than 20 millions yen."

There was a flash of darkness in his eyes again before he smiled gently at her, "then he must be mistaken, my dear." He breathed seductively into her ears, "enough with the small talk," he lifted her up with an abnormal strength that she didn't know he possessed, "I have better plans for us today."

She clutched to his chest shyly as he carried her to their bedroom, "I thought that you want to show me the dark room."

He smirked, "that would be the plan for tomorrow, my dear."

"I thought that you don't like to change plans."

"You're an exception, my dear." He smirked, and Orihime's stomach tinged with excitement, "but no worry, everything is according to plan."

(to be continued)

A/N: This story is fairly long to be in one chapter so I break it into half.

I will post the rest as soon as I'm done with my writing. So the horror part will be presented in the next chapter, LOL. This is my first horror fic, I hope it's ok. Please let me know what you think about this story. Thanks.